The problem of eternal youth has always worried people. A huge number of literary works have been written on this topic alone. But it seems that only in the third millennium from the birth of Christ, people began to come a little closer to solving this problem.
Scientists from Duke University, after a series of studies, have come to the conclusion that maintaining youth and slowing aging is 80 percent dependent on genetics. The remaining twenty are lifestyle and environment. And the World Health Organization assigns only 20 percent to heredity. According to her experts, most - 50 percent - is accounted for by lifestyle, 20 - on the ecology and the environment, and 10 percent - on the level of health care. These numbers most reliably explain why people now look significantly younger.
Danish scientists have studied nearly 400 pairs of twins. Each couple who wished to participate in the study were photographed in their 70s, 80s and 90s. Over the next seven years, the twins continued to be monitored by a group of scientists led by Professor Kaare Christensen from the University of Southern Denmark. According to the published research results, those who had an easier life looked younger. They lived longer. And people who lived a hard life looked much older than their years, they also died before their brothers or sisters. The standard of living is one of the reasons that allow a person to look younger than their age.
The next reason can be called the human nutrition system. According to the cosmetologist Marina Leonhardt, you can use any expensive cosmetics, but if the nutrition is wrong, it will not be the best way to affect your appearance. For example, the diet should never be completely fat-free or protein-free. It is the ratio of fat to muscle mass that is an indicator of aging. And the constant lack of protein in the diet causes early skin aging: it becomes dry and flabby, early wrinkles form on it, lethargy appears, and no trace of elasticity remains.
Today, a person running in the morning is a common occurrence, and fitness centers are rarely empty. According to Dr. Richard Hochshinda, even minimal physical activity keeps the body in good shape. In addition, in the course of such a load, the oxygen utilization rate (OI) grows - by the way, it is twice as high in athletes than in those who lead a predominantly sedentary lifestyle. IR affects the efficiency of the body, has a beneficial effect on cardiac activity. And its lack, plus a decrease in the general tone of the body, leads to a change in complexion, the appearance of a yellow-gray plaque on it.
Physicians have long proven that regular sexual activity is only beneficial to health. Scottish psychologist Weeks interviewed more than three thousand people aged 18 to 102 on the European and American continents, who looked significantly younger than their years. As it turned out, they all had an active sex life (centenarians, according to them, continued to actively have sex at a fairly mature age). From which Weeks concluded that sexual activity over a long period "rejuvenates" the human body by an average of five to ten years.
No matter how surprising it may sound, awareness, possession of a wide range of knowledge is directly related to a more youthful appearance of a person. The British Heart Association analyzed the intellectual level of the volunteers and their ability to stay young longer. The experts themselves were surprised by how much IQ level and the aging process of the body are interconnected. The higher a person's erudition, the slower they age. And these are not just logical conclusions. DNA tests were taken from all participants in the experiment. Scientists have long established that telomeres, which are part of DNA, are an indicator of aging. The shorter they are, the older the body is. So, during the experiment, it turned out that the least educated people had the shortest telomeres, they also looked older than their years.
Many people know that increased water intake has a beneficial effect on the body and appearance. Scientists at Harvard University recommend drinking from one to one and a half liters of liquid a day (it does not matter if it is water, tea, juice or soup). However, Professor Huggins of the University of Connecticut insists that one recipe cannot be applied to everyone. He is sure that each person has his own water consumption rate, which depends on the person's place of residence (residents of Africa and Alaska, of course, need different amounts of fluid), on his physical activity (an athlete will always drink more water than someone who does not is engaged), the weight of a person (forty-kilogram and eighty-kilogram, by definition, will consume a different volume of fluid). But in any case, a person should drink the volume of water he needs per day, which has a beneficial effect on the state of his body, including the condition of the skin, which, with dehydration, quickly fades. At the same time, nutritionist from the German Society for Nutrition (DGE) Antje Gal warns that water should be drunk evenly throughout the day. To endure thirst, and then drink the daily rate of fluid at a time, means, according to him, only harm the body.
If you see a person who looks much younger than his age, you can confidently say that he cares about his proper sleep. Scientists from the Karlinsky Institute in Stockholm, after a series of studies, confirmed that chronic lack of sleep negatively affects the appearance. Swollen eyelids, drooping corners of the mouth, pallor of the skin are all consequences of a lack of sleep. You need to sleep at least 7-8 hours. And those who understood this were right: the time saved on sleep negatively affects only the appearance, but also the mental activity. This was confirmed by scientists from Los Angeles. According to them, sleep deprivation has a negative effect on the brain, equal to that of alcohol. The less you sleep, the worse you think. Today for many it has become an axiom, while two or three decades ago the expression "No time to sleep, sleep off in the next world" was one of the most popular.
And finally, genetics. Despite the different percentages of the participation of genes in the preservation of youth, this factor, of course, is of great importance. Let's return to scientists from Duke University (North Carolina, USA). They selected one hundred volunteers who were the same age and were born in the same city. Volunteers were photographed as soon as they turned 26, 32 and 38 years old and sent for medical examination. The study showed that the speed of aging depends on lifestyle and the environment by only 20 percent, and 80 percent is genetics. Scientists in North Carolina claim that each person has their own aging gene, some have it very active, and some not. For example, about seven percent of the population has inherited an active aging gene from both parents. Such people look 8-10 years older than their age. Another 38 percent have a gene that makes them look about four years older than their peers. And 55 percent of the population doesn't have genes that "make" people look older. And here, everyone has great opportunities to maintain their body in good condition and look much younger than their age.
